the Thicket, the extensive 
lion two miles from the town, 
ngs to Maidenhead, or, in other 
oS inhabitants : — " The Thicket was 
inch infested by robbers and highwaymen, 
-.y remains of them to be found now are 
snarers of the little feathered songsters, who 
imprison them in tiny cages and carry them off in 
larger numbers to brighten by their sweet sad 
sighs for liberty the dwellers in our smoky cities." 
On this point I consulted a bird-catcher, who 
had spread his nets on the common for many 
years, and he complained bitterly of the increasing 
scarcity of bird life. There was no better place 
than the Thicket formerly, he said; but now he 
could hardly make his bread there. I presume 
that a dozen men of his trade would be well able 
to drain the country in the neighbourhood of the 
Thicket of the greater portion of its bird life each 
3^ear so as to keep the songsters scarce. Will any 
person maintain for a moment that the eight or 
nine thousand inhabitants of Maidenhead, and the 
hundreds or thousands inhabiting the surrounding- 
country could not protect their song-birds from 
these few men, most of them out of London slums, 
if they wished or had the spirit to do so ? 
It is true that the local authorities in some 
country towns have made bye-laws to protect the 
